Does Seafood Safety Outweigh Its Benefits?
by Dr Carlos

Around the world, seafood is a regular part of most native and modern day diets. Volumes of studies show the many benefits that seafood offers with regard to protein, essential fatty acids (see: http://toolstolife.com/articles/Not-All-Fats-Are-Created-Equal-163), and trace minerals. It is also well known that in populations where fish consumption is high, particularly deep sea varieties, a much lower incidence of heart disease, mental and emotional problems, and inflammatory diseases is seen.

For my patients in whom a vegetarian diet is not advised (or desired on their part), I have always recommended they replace red meat, pork, and poultry products with deep, cold water fish such as salmon, anchovies, and sardines. These species have a much higher Omega-3 fatty acid content than their coastal and fresh water counterparts such as flounder, shellfish, trout, and catfish, and so are a much healthier option for most people.

Farm-raised fish might be a more sustainable idea but it does have its drawbacks. For one, fish are raised in small ponds where disease can spread quite readily and where water can be subject to contamination. The Washington Post released a story in May 2007 about contaminated fish food imported from China which was used in fish production farms around the US and Canada. The poisonous ingredient, melamine, was the same one isolated in contaminated pet food that resulted in the loss of thousands of our precious ones up to the time it had been discovered.

Consider also the extra additives fed to farm-raised fish. Salmon, for example, are fed formulated pellets in place of their natural diets, resulting in distinct differences between them and their wild caught cousins: they are greyer and lower in Omega-3's. According to a 2001 piece by Canada's CBC news, local concern over the use of antibiotics in the pond water and the injection of dyes to make the fish look more natural was quite high.

Let me leave you with the following list compiled by The Environmental Defense Fund (see www.edf.org/seafood for a beautiful colored chart). The list factors in the health benefits of many common species of fish along with the degree to which the species is endangered, overharvested, or contaminated. Anchovies, mackerel, wild-caught salmon, albacore tuna (not canned), and sardines got the best grades while blue crab, swordfish, canned albacore tuna, Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, and yellowfin and canned tuna had failing grades.

There is a risk we take with all of our consumer choices. While no one approach works for all people, I always feel the educated decision is often the best one we can make.

Healthiest regards,

Dr. Carlos